Category: Paris

Welcome back!! Sorry it’s been so long, I hope you didn’t forget about me because I didn’t forget about you! 🙂 This post I’m taking a break from eating (shocking, I know) and continuing on our European Vacation! The 3rd stop on our adventure was Paris- a city which we’ve never been too before and it’s now one that we will never forget. (Check out my previous blog posts about our first and second stops in Amsterdam & Bruges here travel: Bruges and travel: Tiffany Eats Amsterdam). Let’s gooooooo!

Tiff’s Paris To-Do List

1. Explore

You will notice that some of my “to-do” lists begin with the same couple of things- one of those being “explore!” It’s so fun to just wander the streets and get lost, ESPECIALLY, in a place as stunning as Paris; everywhere you look there is beauty! There are so many great little streets to find and on these streets are some hidden gems like bakeries, pastry shops, and more.

We had the best time just wandering around stopping at places along the way and popping into shops. Check out my super adorable husband ❤ Can you tell that he’s a tourist? 🙂

2. Take a Big Bus Tour

Remember the part where I said some of my “to-do” lists begin with the same things? Yup, this is another prime example but I promise you, taking a Big Bus tour around the city is such a great way to get the lay of the land! This is what we did on our second day in Paris. It was a beautiful sunny day and it took us to all the main attractions such as the Arc de Triomphe…

The Eiffel Tower ( of course!)…

Isn’t he so handsome? :le sigh:

And all the other great attractions the pristine city has to offer! What I love about the bus is that you can hop off and on throughout the day as you please, so the places you really want to spend time at you can explore at your leisure.

3. Have a Picnic at the Eiffel Tower

We hopped off our Big Bus at the Eiffel Tour and found this little crepe stand that made fresh crepes and also had sandwiches so we decided to have ourselves a little picnic and I’m so glad we did because it was a such a highlight for us!

THAT CREPE THOUGH!!! This crepe was amaaaazing- the lady made it right in front of us and it melted in your mouth! I really struggled to share this with my lovechunk but lucky for me, he got his own sandwich! 🙂

He can keep that sandwich, I’m keeping the crepe 🙂

Chris had purchased a little fold up waterproof blanket before our trip so we used that and laid out, enjoying our meal and the views. It was a perfect way to spend the afternoon. Very relaxing and you simply cannot beat that view!

4. Check out the Museums

Musee’ de Louvre

Paris is FILLED with so many wonderful museums. You can probably spend a month going to museums all day and you still wouldn’t be able to see all of them. We knew we had to see the Lourve, and I highly recommend putting it on your Paris “to do” list. It is the world’s largest art museum- and I found that out really quickly. It is huge!

There are so many breathtaking pieces, you could easily spend hours here just walking around taking in all of the art. We actually got lost inside of the Louvre #dontjudgeus 🙂 After about 3 hours I started to become tired and hangry- which is a recipe for disaster. But the problem was, we still hadn’t seen the world famous “Mona Lisa” yet and we couldn’t leave without seeing her, right? So we went through room by room trying to find her, which only made us more lost and confused, we asked several people where she was and finally after about 40 minutes of searching we found her!!!

I’m not gonna lie, she was not that impressive. She was much smaller than I imagined and she was behind glass. I basically took 3 pictures and said “let’s go! I’m hungry!” #foodieproblems Chris said he should carry snacks around with him to fill up my “hunger tank” to prevent me getting hangry 🙂 He’s a smart man.

Before I became hangry

Another museum we went to and loved was the “Musee’ de l’Orangerie”. This was a beautiful place that had an entire room of Monet’s paintings which filled up the walls. It was so serene to just sit there and stare at these beauties.

There are so many beautiful works of art in this museum as well and what I like is that it’s small so it’s more difficult to get lost 🙂

5. Stroll through the Gardens

Paris has SO many exquisite gardens throughout the city and what is so great is that they are FREE! Beautiful AND free, what more can you ask for?? We had a great time exploring the Tuileries Garden (Jardin des Tuileries) which is right in between the Louvre and the Musee’ de l’Orangerie. There is a gorgeous fountain located in the center of the garden with chairs all around, there are exquisite statues throughout and ponds, literally everywhere you look is amazing. I promise you, my pictures aren’t doing it justice.

Another garden we loved was the Luxembourg Garden (Jardin du Luxembourg), we actually discovered it our first day in Paris while exploring. This garden is sprawling and stunning! This garden was probably my favorite one we visited during our trip, it was simply breathtaking.

6. Go to Notre Dame & Saint Germain

I always try to find hotels to stay at that are in the heart of everything so we can pretty much walk to the majority of places we want to go- our hotel was about a 5 minute walk to Notre Dame- it was perfect! Whether, or not, you are religious does not matter, I highly recommend to everyone to visit Notre Dame while in Paris. It is a sight to be seen. They offer tours but the line was very long and we lack the virtue they call “patience” so we decided to just go inside and walk around.

Tiff’s Tip: Try to pay attention to where you are walking, it will be difficult as you will be walking around with your mouth wide open saying “wooooooow” but do try not to bump into anyone. 🙂

We were lucky enough to go during Sunday Mass, it was so beautiful to hear the choir singing in French- granted we couldn’t understand it, but you don’t need translating to know something sounds beautiful.

After exploring Notre Dame we walked over to Saint Germain Chapelle , which was also exquisite and amazing. We we’re in the chapel and you are surrounded by 360 degrees of stained glass- wow!

7. Climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower at Sunset

Okay, now let’s be honest, I am using the words “climb” very loosely as you are not really climbing but riding in a large elevator 🙂 We decided to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower which was SO worth it! We went just right before sunset and we were at the top when the sun was setting across the city- it was a view we will always remember.

Once we explored the summit(top) area and took in all of the views we went back down and by that time it was dark and at night the Eiffel Towers lights up and every hour there is a twinkle lights show- it is MAGICAL!!! I wasn’t able to get any good pictures during the twinkle show but this is what it looks like lit up at night….

This was the perfect way to end our last night in Paris! We actually ended up missing the last train back so we walked back to the hotel which was about a 30 minute walk. It was so nice walking around the city at night seeing everything lit up, Paris really comes alive at night and it was so nice to be a part of it. 🙂

8. Eat, Eat, and then Eat Some More!

You guys…Paris is a foodie PARADISE. I’m not kidding, everything I ate was mouthwatering, delectable, and fabulous. Stay tuned for my new blog post where “Tiffany Eats Paris”! I promise, I won’t make you wait another 3 months for that one 🙂